Why would they need to do such a thing. The defendant broke his agreement with the CIA and the Federal Government by leaking classified information. It honestly seems incredibly stupid to falsify evidence that could torpedo an entire case....
In general or this case? In general: Because it's incredibly powerful. In this case? See below.
>The defendant broke his agreement with the CIA and the Federal Government by leaking classified information.
This has yet to be proven, and the defendant claims he is innocent. An alleged leaker claiming his innocence possessing unencrypted CP is incredibly convenient for the CIA. Almost too convenient.
>falsify evidence that could torpedo an entire case
Why when the risk to the gov is basically 0%. You run a kit to plant the files and metadata. The files are then "extracted" by a forensic tool, the "evidence" is now bulletproof. The only person who could conceivably challenge such a move would be a very wealthy person who knew they were innocent and chose to hire expert witnesses to analyze the planted data to prove it was faked. Even then... good luck.